Race organizers in Ruka have a surprising problem – partying students forced the track patrol to work in the morning

Harri Keskiaho, the competition director of Ruka’s Suomen Cup, told in an interview that the “nocturnal party people” sometimes cause problems for the creators of the race tracks.

In Kuusamo, the terrains of Ruka were skied this weekend in the Finnish Cup competitions. On Saturday, the program included a sprint race in traditional skiing, and on Sunday, 10 kilometers in traditional skiing as an intermediate start.

Next weekend, the Cross-Country World Cup will start in Ruka.

On Saturday, somewhat surprisingly, he participated in the Finnish Cup sprint Iivo Niskanen. Suomalaistahtih has not really competed in sprints, except for “mandatory” races, such as the stages of the Tour de Ski tour. However, Niskanen knows that success in the overall World Cup competition requires hard work and also participation in sprints.

Niskanen, who advanced to the semifinals in the Finnish Cup sprint, criticized the softness of Ruka’s tracks on Saturday.

– The track is that soft. It’s not like I thought. Let’s see if the groin will hold up, Niskanen vowed after the sprint qualifying.

Before Sunday’s games, Ruka Suomen Cup competition manager Harri Keskiaho revealed in an interview with that there have really been problems with the tracks at times. However, the reason was perhaps a bit surprising.

There are cottages near Ruka’s track, where, among other things, students stay. Because of this, the Track Patrol had woken up at 4 o’clock in the morning to check the condition of the tracks.

– Indeed, the tracks have been checked in the morning. They were run in the evening, the goal was to have a track as hard as possible, so that it would be even until the end of the race day. It was known that there could be pedestrian traffic from the party crowd at night, Keskiaho said.

A grade for students

Due to possible damages caused by the students, the Track Patrol woke up early in the morning to check the tracks. According to Keskiaho, there had been pedestrians on the track, but for such a short distance that there was no need to run the tracks again in the morning.

For example, in the Impilinna area, pedestrian traffic on the tracks has caused even worse problems in previous years.

– Yes, it has been, over the years this has been encountered. That is why such inspections are carried out. We were prepared to have the tracks run from the pumping station in the direction of Impilinna and back around four or five in the morning. However, the track was otherwise so good that there was no need for this.

Keskiaho jokingly signed ‘s editor Joel Holman I estimate that the students will get a grade of 9+ this time.

– Of course. We are at the tourist center. I understand that people move around here. Let’s hope we all fit here.